Project information

Rise and Shine

Charity information: Young And Inspired

Need

There are many children and young people who leave their house every day without eating breakfast. A large number of these young people come from deprived homes and have nobody looking after them. Various studies have shown that missing breakfast causes poor behavioural problems, restricts their willingness to learn and prevents them from reaching their true potential. Additionally, these young people often have a poor relationship with their teachers as they tend to be disruptive in class.

Solution

Our breakfast club will provide these young people with a healthy start to their day and ensure that they are not hungry. This will not only prevent the irritable and surly behaviour which they tend to have due to their hunger, but will also provide them with the opportunity to spend informal time with their teachers where they will be able to to build a positive relationship.

What success will look like

Impact

As a result of the project, children will be able to focus better at school, retain their lessons for longer and will get better grades on their tests. They will also behave better in class, have longer concentration spans, develop better relationships with teachers and peers, have better attitudes to their learning and will do better on the whole in their education.

Risk

There is a risk that young people won't want to attend the club, either because they think it's "uncool" or if their friends won't attend. In order to mitigate this risk we will offer incentives for the children to attend, such as small prizes, extra credit in their work and so on so that they should want to attend. Once they will start coming they will usually want to continue, because they enjoy the atmosphere and of course the food.

Reporting

We will write to the donors as soon as the project begins, to thank them for their support. We will continue to keep them informed through quarterly project reports. We will also thank our donors on our website and in our annual report.

Location

We are located in Hackney, North London, an area of great poverty and deprivation. Poverty levels amongst our users are high- 79% of our users live in overcrowding compared to 46% of Hackney's under 20s. As a result, many do not have access to healthy, nutritious meals.

Beneficiaries

Two thirds of children aged 7-10 agree that breakfast is the most important meal in the day. However, as children get older, attitudes change, and as they reach their teenage years they are less likely to value breakfast as an important daily meal. We want to enforce breakfast as the most important meal of the day, particularly among those who wouldn’t otherwise eat a proper breakfast.

Why Us?

If we wouldn't provide breakfast, the children won't eat breakfast. According to Association of Teachers and Lecturers, almost half (45%) of education staff believe that without a breakfast club, pupils who attend them wouldn't have any food before lessons. We have experience working with disadvantaged youth and have staff and volunteers with expertise in this area. We know the children from our other projects and programs, and they know us, and trust us.